Difficulties in securing your first role in Regulatory Affairs; Graduate perspective
At the 2010 Annual TOPRA Symposium I met a recent graduate (who wishes to remain anonymous) whose experience of the problems faced looking for a first role in Regulatory Affairs reflects the lack of entry level positions highlighted in our data and Angela’s Q&A.

I graduated with an honours degree in 2003 and was lucky enough to get a contract position with a global company right away. Six months later I secured a permanent position in the same department I was working for, which was part of the early phases of drug discovery. After a few years of working in the laboratory I started looking around other sectors of the pharmaceutical business in search for areas where I could develop learn more skills. Regulatory Affairs (RA) was an area where I saw constant growth in terms of skills and development. It was an area where I could gain knowledge daily and put that into practice. I could see myself having developed various skills over the years that were appropriate for a regulatory role.

However I had no idea how difficult it would be for me to move into RA especially at an entry level position. I couldn’t really aim for a senior role as I had no experience. Any entry level positions that were advertised required one to have had worked in some area of regulatory. Nevertheless I started to enquire if there were any courses I could do to equip myself with the knowledge required in this field. Even then the problem I faced was that these courses were designed for people already in regulatory. This was a catch 22 situation. I couldn’t get into regulatory because of not having practical experience and then I couldn’t enrol into a course because I was not in regulatory already. Seemed like a dead end to me. However, not giving up I carried on gaining more information on regulatory and kept on asking organisations providing courses on RA for information. Ultimately, I was about to pay hundreds of pounds to do a 5 day basics of RA course. I went to one of the RA managers in the company I worked for and was advised to take on the free courses provided by the RA department in our company and save on the money I was going to spend outside the organisation. I thus enrolled on to many courses starting from the basics of RA to European and US RA. I was supported by my department to take time off to do these courses.

Even after doing the RA courses provided by my company I was having no success getting a position into this field. There weren’t many entry level roles. I started looking for positions outside my company and went to various RA websites. I wrote to various organisations with the hope of getting some work experience that could benefit me. I was willing to take time off my annual leave to be able to get some exposure into RA. Still there was no success. I then applied for membership with TOPRA after being advised by one of my colleagues in RA. Through TOPRA I learnt about the MSc courses provided by Cranfield University and the University of Wales. I still faced disappointment after speaking to the relevant people at these universities. These courses were again for people already in RA. I carried on looking!
I registered myself at emedcareers.com who I came across most probably through a Yahoo search for RA jobs. I uploaded my CV and a covering letter to this website. I prefer using my CV than filling lots of forms on websites as it saves time. I believe emedcareers.com gives you both the options. I also signed up to receiving RA job alerts direct to my inbox. For almost two years that I have been with emedcareers.com I have received numerous job alerts, many that are very much relevant to what I am looking for. I have been applying to the positions and do get responses from the agencies who have advertised these jobs. I have actually come into contact with many RA recruitment agencies and have landed with some interviews with companies via these agencies. Unfortunate enough for me I have not ended up with any positions due to lack of experience. As a matter of fact I have been given positive feedback after each interview and was once very close to getting a position. I only lost out to another candidate due to having a month’s leaving notice whilst the recruiters wanted someone to start earlier. I am happy to carry on using emedcareers.com as emails are sent to my inbox on a regular basis for jobs all around the country according to the options I have specified.

At work I tried to arrange for a secondment. I was in talks with VPs in my organisation. I wrote to them several times highlighting my passion to move into RA. Eventually one of the VPs asked their reports to contact me to discuss secondment opportunities. I had a meeting with the director and my manager and we were close to an agreement on an arrangement for a secondment. However this development had a setback when one of my colleagues left work from my department and thus there was no one who could cover me for the time I was on secondment.

I went to Cranfield University on an open day and personally met the course director for the Medical Technology Regulatory Affairs course. I was delighted to know that they would now enrol students who do not have any regulatory experience or are not working as an RA professional. As I was going to pay for the whole course myself, I considered studying with Cranfield rather than the University of Wales, which would have cost me nearly twice as much. I wasted no time and enrolled on the MSc course as fast as I could. I have now completed 5 modules on this MSc and can confidently say that I have gained a lot of knowledge in the regulatory field. There is a lot of respect for this course in the professional world. I study with RA professionals who are at senior levels and even managers of their departments giving me the opportunity to learn from their experience. Due to the course I have now been considered over qualified for a couple of jobs that I applied to. It is a part time course therefore I can study whilst working full time. I take days off from my annual leave to attend the modules.

I have taken every opportunity that I can to gain knowledge in RA. I have developed the skills required in this profession. I have funded myself for courses and attending RA events. I have even voluntarily worked at the TOPRA annual symposium 2010 in London to gain exposure to the latest regulations. This event was a good opportunity for networking. However after all these efforts I am still waiting for the right time when I would end up with a RA role. It is not easy for anyone to move from a non regulatory role to a regulatory role. Companies normally employ fresh graduates for entry level positions. There are a lot of positions out there for people who have experience, at senior, managerial and director level. But entry level jobs are quite scarce. I even am willing to take a pay cut in order to move into RA as this is a sacrifice that I will have to make moving from a non regulatory, experienced role. But the question here is do I really want to do that? What is there in regulatory that I am so passionate about? The answer is simple; challenge. RA is a challenging career. A career connected to all parts of the pharmaceutical and medical devices business. A career responsible for placing the products, manufactured through years of hard work and research, onto the market and keeping them there. Regulatory Affairs is the spine of the pharmaceutical and medical device industry and I will love to become a part of it.

It is obvious that a career in Regulatory Affairs can be rewarding both financially and in terms of being a vital role in the process of bringing new Medicines to market. Regulatory Affairs is currently a difficult sector to secure an entry level role but once you have your ‘foot in the door’, with the correct training and good experience there are many opportunities for career development.